, May 15, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Two pro-life associations in Colombia have expressed their rejection of a ruling by the country’s Constitutional Court legalizing abortion in certain cases and said they are committed to preparing legal challenges to overturn the unjust decision.

Ilva Hoyos, president of Red Futuro Colombia, deplored the high court’s ruling and said it was legally unacceptable to defend the thesis that the mere existence of a human being is a violation of the fundamental rights of another. Hoyos called for Colombians to act “as an army of citizens in defense of the Constitution, which rests upon the respect for human dignity. We should also demand that the media faithfully keep its constitutional mandate to inform and to receive truthful and impartial information.”

Martha Saiz de Rueda, president of Cultural Foundation for Human Life—an organization affiliated with Human Life International, said she hopes people will take the necessary actions and refuse “to march to the beat of the drums of death that hail from the UN and certain organizations in the United States.”

She said the high court justices have ignored the more than two million people who signed petitions and the more than 30,000 letters sent by children calling on the court to “protect its tradition of respect for human dignity.”